Steampunk is commonly associated with Europeans — and with a enthrallment with the glories of imperialism . So when a group of Singaporean writer put together a steampunk Holy Writ , what will the results look like ? And how about when you forbid “ angst - ride wretchedness ? ” Jess Nevins investigates .
Top image : Steampunk City byTyler Edlin , viaCool vibration
The Happy Smiley Writers Group is a radical of seven author locate in Singapore . Through their Two Trees Pte . Ltd ( http://twotrees.com.sg/books.html ) micro - press they have published three skill fiction anthologies since 2009 . Their in style , The Steampowered Globe ( ISBN 978‑981‑07‑0549‑7 , SGD$18 ) , is a steampunk anthology .
Part of the surprise comes from the collection ’s very existence . Literary steampunk from Singapore ? Obviously , there are a number of scientific discipline fiction writers in Singapore and more generally in Southeast Asia , but nearly all of the steampunk short stories and novel release so far are from Western writers . I thought The Steampowered Globe would be an splendid opportunity to discover how Southeast Asian author viewed steampunk and pen it , and what the difference might be between steampunk write in the West , from descendant of the colonizers , and steampunk written in the East , from descendants of the colonized .
Maisarah Abu Samah , one of the two editors of Steampowered Globe , said that
the state of steampunk in Singapore is still bud … mostly people are give away to it due to video game and books . Besides online influence , cosplay conventions are one mode to spread what steampunk is for all the subculture fashions appear in them . For the writers in this anthology , some of them knew what steampunk was while others just scan our explanation and reference on what it was in our submission call page .
This raise the question : Why do a steampunk anthology ? append to that the fact that the guidelines for submissions to the anthology read , “ No depressive ending , no preaching , no agendas , no angst - ridden misery . ” Aub Samah sound out ,
We target that at the back of the ledger because depressive end with angst‑ridden miserableness is dominant here in local ( Singapore ) publishing . The bestsellers tend to be depressive suffering is me cultural stories . It would have been all right if it was n’t just that but there you go , we want an anthology that was a smack in the face to show that genre fiction exists besides literature text . This anthology was to prove that yes , there are author here who compose science fiction , steampunk or musical style fable and that it is okay to compose that . It is unmanageable to publish genre fiction here as the great unwashed do n’t think it is commercially viable or that no one need to interpret them since they ’re not judgment or text al-Qur’an .
What were the results ? A 144 page , seven tale anthology with a high-pitched rate of success — high by any standards , not just those of a author group micro - press anthology . The fact that so many of the story succeed is a tribute both to the Happy Smiley Writers Group and to editors Abu Samah and Rosemary Lim .
“ Morrow ’s Knight , ” by Viki Chua , a ego - discover “ mild - mannered university student , ” is the most traditional of the stories : set in Victorian London , a steerable artificer and shop mechanic loses her scientist / inventor pal to murder , but she do to mistrust that while his body is go , his soul is not . Chua said that her goal was to append to the numbers of distaff engineer in fiction , and she come through in the grapheme of Helena , the admirer of “ Morrow Knight . ” If the plot moves along predictable pipeline , it does so smoothly and pleasantly .
“ Captain Bells and the Sovereign State of Discordia , ” by “ scientist - turned - author - turned - telecasting - journalist ” J.Y. Yang , is less traditional in a number of ways . About the pursuit and seizure of the maitre d’hotel of a nation - state zeppelin by a duad of tracker in the employ of the Lord Overseer of the Malayan Colonies , “ Captain bell ” takes several of the common steampunk tropes and upend them : the trackers are lesbians rather than straight , steampunk ’s usual fetishistic obsession with imperialism is supervene upon with a disgust with the cruelty of imperialism , and the trackers ultimately join the radical zeppelin captain and his autonomous country zeppelin rather than maintain the status quo . In less capable men “ Captain Bell ” would have read as a programmatic paint - by - numbers story , but Yang ’s anti - colonialism , and the trackers ’ same - sex relationship , are nicely understate . For Yang , the story came first , and it shows .
Claire Cheong ’s “ No , They Dream of Mechanical Hearts ” is the story of a maker of “ labori ” ( mechanical man ) and how one of labori reach independency . Cheong ’s passion for societal justice shows in her examination of how android servants might be treated , and her characterisation of the protagonist is strong . “ Mechanical Hearts ” is not as smoothly tell apart as the other stories in the collection , nor is the plot particularly complicated , but Cheong is 16 years old , and I think the fib is impressive study her age . She will be an author to find out in the hereafter .
“ How the Morning Glory grow , ” by Mint Kang , a Singapore - based independent author , prove one potential direction in which police work would be conducted in a steampunk Singapore . Hackers , mecha , bio - engineering morning glories , and overworked and underappreciated constabulary populate the tale . “ Morning Glory ” is an entertaining combination of police force procedural and steampunk which Kang treats with a light touch which enhances the story .
“ coloring material , ” by Yuen Xiang Hao , is the only fantasy story in the collection , but the phantasy element of “ Colours ” are minimal — only a pair of new countries in a close to Napoleonic War - case mise en scene . Yuen said ,
Using fictional countries was more for my own peace of mind than anything else ; I intended to use the British professional army as a model , but at the same time I wanted a slimly mellow level of engineering ( percussion section chapiter or else of firelock ) , and also battle in region that were nontypical of the Peninsual warfare . In the remainder , I decided to base Ferra loosely on “ our ” Switzerland to act as a touchstone , but what I had in mind did n’t truly fit our world .
The solution is a gripping warfare narrative told from the level of a serjeant in a stemma of struggle , which functions as an efficient reproof to steampunk stories ’ obsessions with man adventurers and the socially - elevated . “ Colours ” does not shy away from the down realities of war , does not slight the experiences and motivations of enlisted men , and does not have a pointlessly negative conclusion .
Ng Kum Hoon ’s “ assistance ! Same Angler Fish ’s Been gawk For Eight Minutes ” is a cagy story of an applier for a corporate position and an interview rifle disastrously untimely . The most lighthearted of the stories in The Steampunked Globe , “ Help ! ” is a delicious story , professionally evidence , with a wind that I , at least , did not see come . Moreover , the writer pays more aid than many steampunk stories to actual science , with the reward that “ Help ” has a veneer of credibility often miss . I will make a head to search out more work from Ng in the future tense .
The best tale in The Steampunked Globe is Leow Hui Min Annabeth ’s “ Ascension . ” About an aged Ada Lovelace and her last days in the service of the Dowager Empress , Leow ’s tarradiddle is grand . Its unassailable word picture equal by firm research and world - edifice make me want to see it expanded to novel - length . “ Ascension ” one of the in effect , most concise stories I ’ve read in months .
Two other prospect of The Steampunked Globe are worth noting .
The first is that five of the seven stories are written by women . grant to Abu Samah , this was not a deliberate choice on the editor program ’ part , rather a reflection of the sex typography of the Happy Smiley Writers Group . Nonetheless , given the tending pay in recent old age to sex unbalance in Western skill fiction anthologies , it is worth noting that the first steampunk anthology from Singapore did not strike into that trap .
The second is that this is steampunk written by the descendent of colonised rather than the coloniser . While the guidelines for the anthology steered the authors off from politically radical messages , the stories nonetheless show a consciousness of egress like colonialism and oppressiveness which are too often lacking in Western steampunk . For this the authors are to be remember .
book reviewBooksjess nevins
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